Hoshiarpur, January 7 The Deputy Commissioner, Mr D.K. Tiwari, today inaugurated the pulse polio immunisation campaign in the district by administering drops at a booth.

An NCC volunteer administers polio drops to an infant during the drive in Jalandhar on Sunday. —Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

11-yr-old rescued from well
Phagwara, January 7
In a brave act, Jatinder (11), who fell into a deserted 60-foot-deep well, was rescued by Harjit Singh in Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar (Tibbi) this afternoon. Jatinder was playing with his friends when he fell into the well.

Jalandhar, January 7
Despite the district election authorities striving hard to evolve a speedy and fault-free photo voter identity card making process, a case of a Jalandhar based couple has deflated the oft-repeated tall claims of the authorities concerned.

The photo voter I-card issued by the Election Commission of India authorities to Dr Vasdev Singh Abrol and his wife Sukhjinder Kaur, residents of 394/1, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, Jalandhar city, are different from the cards issued to other voters.

The photo I-card of Sukhjinder Kaur shows her as a ‘Sikh man’ with a turban while Dr Vasdev Singh Abrol’s I-card carries his wife’s photo. Dr Abrol’s photo has been affixed on his wife’s I-card and vice-versa.

“We are totally confused. We don’t know where to go for correction. Otherwise too, the development has caused unnecessary inconvenience to us. “Even if the authorities agreed to correct the anomaly, we will have to go to them once again for getting ourselves photographed. Why can’t they check everything before sending these cards to voters?” questioned Dr Abrol.

Hoshiarpur, January 7
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr D.K. Tiwari, today inaugurated the pulse polio immunisation campaign in the district by administering drops at a booth set up by the Health Department with the help of an NGO, Sri Ram Charit Manas Parchar Mandal, in Bhagat Nagar.

He said government employees along with NGOs would visit every house in the district on January 8 and 9 to administer drops to left-out children.The Civil Surgeon, Dr Kamaljit Kaur, said 872 booths were set up.

PHAGWARA: As many as 30,000 children up to five years were administered polio drops on Sunday.

The Phagwara SMO said around 52 immunisation booths, including two transit camps were set up and one mobile van was pressed into service by the local Health Department. Nearly 200 persons, drawn from the Department of health, students from nursing college and service clubs like Rotary Club and Lions Club, were deployed to administer polio drops. Though the campaign had yielded very good results, it was essential to administer polio drops as wild polio virus still existed in the country, said the SMO.

Pulse Polio teams will conduct a door-to-door survey on January 8 and 9 to vaccinate all children.

PATHANKOT: As many as 18,227 children were administered drops in the city. Mr Ravi Dogra, SMO, said 68 camps and two mobile vans were deployed.

Phagwara, January 7
In a brave act, Jatinder (11), who fell into a deserted 60-foot-deep well, was rescued by Harjit Singh in Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar (Tibbi) this afternoon. Jatinder was playing with his friends when he fell into the well.

Residents rushed to the site on hearing his screams, but no one dared to come forward to rescue the child.

Harjit Singh of Nawanshahr, who was here to meet his aunt, dared and climbed down with the help of a rope. He tied him to his waist and the people pulled them out of the well. After the 45-mintue-long operation, the child was saved.

Phagwara SDM Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal has announced to honour Harjit Singh on January 26.

Nangal, January 7
These days fields, swamps and marshy areas around the Nangal reservoir are home to thousands of birds from the trans-Himalayan region.

The number of brahminy ducks, pintails, black-necked grebes, red-necked grebes, large cormorants, mallards, coots, moorhens, darters, terns and ruddyshell ducks in this border area of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh has been on the rise for the past many years. Bar-headed geese and common pochards make their presence conspicuous in thousands.

Besides the resident birds, including red jungle fowl, large Indian parakeet, Indian cuckoo, bank myna, wood shrike, yellow-eyed babbler and crested bunting, one can watch a large number of birds from far-off hills flocking in the area.

Among the resident birds, a flock of Sarus, revered as a symbol of fidelity, can be seen between Santoshgarh village and Taliwal village in Una district, which is close to Nangal. It is breeding successfully in the fields around Nangal. It is the tallest of all the 15 species of cranes. It attains a height up to 6 feet, with a wingspan of 8 feet.

Mr Prabhat Bhatti, a Nangal-based bird watcher and wildlife photographer, said this year more number of migratory vultures, especially Egyptian, visited the area.

“Situated in the lower Shivaliks, Nangal and surrounding areas are fast emerging one of the most popular destinations for bird watchers,” said Mr Bhatti. He demanded that the state government should put emphasis on the development and protection of the habitat of the birds and mammals.

The Nangal reservoir was formed with the construction of a barrage over the Sutlej in 1961. The water is spread over an area of 371 hectares.

It is an important habitat for some threatened species like the scaly anteater and python. It is also an important breeding place for the smooth Indian otter, the hog deer, the sambhar and the pangolin. 

Pathankot, January 7
A day after the Transport Minister, Mr Raghunath Sahai Puri, faced with a revolt from his own party men, his son and Sujanpur Municipal Council president Naresh Puri today organised a show of strength in the favour of his father seeking re-nomination from the Sujanpur constituency.

Former Sujanpur council president Vinay Mahajan asked the Congress leadership yesterday not to re-nominate Mr Puri for his dictatorial attitude.

A meeting of the All-India Retired Railway Employees Federation was held here on Sunday under the chairmanship of Mr Sat Pal Sharma, president of the local unit of the federation. Mr Munsha Singh, zonal president from Jalandhar, was the chief guest.